RALEIGH — As the media encircled Martin Necas’ locker, Jordan Martinook offered a warning.
“Stand back! He’s hot!”
He sure is.
Necas factored in on all of the Hurricanes’ goals, finishing with two goals and two assists, and Pyotr Kochetkov made 29 saves in his return to the net as Carolina beat the visiting St. Louis Blues 4-1 Sunday at Lenovo Center.
“When things are going your way, you’re kind of in the zone,” said Necas, who now has 30 points in 17 games and trails only Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon and Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov in NHL scoring. “That’s what I’m feeling, and I’m trying to get there and stay here as long as long as I can.”
Necas assisted on each of Carolina’s first two goals, setting up Andrei Svechnikov’s late first-period power-play goal to tie the game and getting a helper on linemate Eric Robinson’s fifth of the season to give the Hurricanes a lead on the first shift of the second period that they wouldn’t relinquish.
Dmitry Orlov’s point shot was stopped by St. Louis goalie Joel Hofer (20 saves), but Robinson pounced on the rebound in the slot and banged it in just 17 seconds into the period to make it 2-1 Carolina.
“It’s a good mindset when you know the D are ready to shoot that you know you can just crash the net, and lucky on that one the rebound pop right to me,” Robinson said.
The line with Necas, Robinson and center Jesperi Kotkaniemi has been on the ice for 15 5-on-5 goals for to just six against.
“You can feel it. Confidence is everything,” Robinson said of feeding off of Necas’ hot start. “Your line is scoring; we’ve had a good stretch here. It’s a snowball effect. You keep feeling better.”
Necas then got the first of his two goals to give Carolina a bit of a cushion.
After Robinson played the puck through the legs of Blues defender Ryan Suter while crossing the blue line, his pass to the middle of the ice was deflected. But it settled in the high slot for Necas, who shot from the right hash mark and scored to extend the lead to 3-1 at 12:26 of the second.
“You saw his dangles today on my first goal,” Necas said of Robinson’s play. “I mean, he’s been a really good piece for us.”
Necas then capped his night with his 11th goal of the season, shooting a puck off a faceoff with just over 3 minutes left to put away the Blues.
“He’s certainly driving the ship for us, there’s no doubt about it, on a nightly basis,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said of Necas. “It’s very, very good to see.”
While Necas continues to steal the spotlight, Carolina’s goaltending was excellent for the second straight night.
Kochetkov, who didn’t dress for Spencer Martin’s 24-save shutout on Saturday, returned to the lineup and kept the Hurricanes in the game in a sloppy first period.
The only blemish was a goal by Jake Neighbours following a Shayne Gostisbehere turnover that made it 1-0 St. Louis at 6:05 of the first.
Kochetkov was impenetrable after that.
He made several key saves in the first period when the Hurricanes were under siege as the Blues jumped out to a 6-0 shot advantage. He made back-to-back saves on Alexandre Texier just after Necas had given Carolina a 3-1 lead to keep St. Louis at arm’s length.
“The day off really helped me,” Kochetkov said. “(I don’t) always (need) an extra day off. Sometimes I want to skate, feel the puck. Sometimes I need to just stay in my home and sleep. That helped me today.”
The story could have been much different had Kochetkov allowed more than one goal on the 11 shots he faced in the third period.
Instead, the Hurricanes’ power play salvaged the opening 20 minutes with a late goal.
After Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist was called for holding on Carolina rookie Jackson Blake with a minute left in the opening frame, Gostisbehere got the puck to Necas on the flank. Necas extended his point streak to 13 games with a pass to the back door that Svechnikov redirected in for his sixth goal of the season with 25 seconds left in the first.
From there, Necas took over.
“I don’t want to talk about him because I want him to stay (hot),” Kopchetkov said of Necas. “What he’s doing now, oh my god, it’s unbelievable.”
Notes: Seth Jarvis missed his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury. … Robinson finished with three points, the third three-point game of his career. … Jordan Staal won 15 of 18 faceoffs, and Carolina won 63% in the game.
